Electronics Questions

[Buddha]

My roommate has a 1997 Yamaha YZF-750R, but I'm hoping this is going to be a pretty general question. He decided to replace the stock turn signals with some generic LED turn signals, but they don't seem to work right. All they do is turn on dimly, but they won't blink at all. We think it's a problem with the turn signals not pulling enough juice to get them to blink, but we don't know how to fix it. Any ideas?

[orionburn]

I've got an old FZR and most of the early Yamahas seemed to be fickle bastards when it comes to wiring. If he's sure the wiring is hooked up correctly then it might be an issue with a resistor. I'm assuming he replaced all the signals with LEDs? With my bike if one bulb goes out it causes all the other lights to go crazy.

I'll pm you a link to a Yamaha board he can join that is home to a lot of older YZF and FZR riders.

[houndawg]

try changing the flasher relay

[Buddha]

try changing the flasher relay

Sorry for sounding dumb, but I don't know a whole lot about the specifics, but...changing it to what? The original relay (not sure any stats on it) seems to work because the old lights still work. So do we need to get one with lower current? Higher voltage? Thanks.

[H2RICK]

Get an electronic flasher. They're made to handle lotsa bulbs (read trailer towing) so that they flash at the same rate regardless of load.
The electronic flasher will flash your LED bulbs with no probs......and no dopey inline resistors required. Just make sure you have your LED's wired in correctly because they are polarized. IOW, make sure your signal wires are correct......ground wire(s) to correct connector(s) on bike harness and same for the hot wire(s).
If you get the connections backwards, the LED's will NOT work, no matter what you do.

[Buddha]

Just a heads up in case someone else runs into it eventually. He ended up getting them working by buying a set of "Load Equalizers" that were run in parallel to the LEDs. Basically, these $10 100OHM resistors seem to have fixed her up. Thanks guys.